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Here are five choice articles from the business press to start off your workweek. I'm pointing you to articles about changes in the banking business, auto company CEOs compared, a novel pay plan, a new "Greatest Generation," and putting a price on social connections.

From Bloomberg: Barclays Maroons Secret of Stable Banking in Suburb
"Hidden in a blue warehouse on an industrial park 200 miles (320 kilometers) northwest of London, Barclays Plc stashes historic documents that provide a lesson for bankers nursing record losses. For most of the British bank’s 319 years, financial statements put balancing assets and liabilities before showing profit growth. Some investors say banks such as Barclays would be in better financial health if that were still the case."

Wally's Comment: Brilliant article that illustrates historical changes in banking. One big one: focusing on the income statement instead of the balance sheet.

From Fortune: Two for the road: GM, Chrysler CEOs
"Now that Rick Wagoner is out as chairman and CEO of General Motors, two different leaders are at the wheel of the nation's two troubled auto companies."

Wally's Comment: A side-by-side comparison of the Chrysler and GM CEOs. Different styles for you to consider, as well as different reputations.

From Inc: Why I Never Let Employees Negotiate a Raise
"At Fog Creek Software, every worker at the same level is paid the same salary. And when one gets a raise, they all do."

Wally's Comment: Here's one to think about.

From Forbes: Another Greatest Generation Is On The Way
"One of the original leadership gurus, Abigail Adams, had it right when she counseled her son John Quincy that hard times are the crucible in which character and leadership are forged."It is not in the still calm of life or the repose of a pacific station that great characters are formed," she wrote to him in 1780. "The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulty. Great necessities call out great virtues." It is in Abigail's spirit that we may come to consider this era to be a moment of dumb luck--in which one generation melted down the economy so that the next generation might grow strong and imaginative in devising a rescue plan and a new future. The crucible has been supplied, and the generation of the crucible has now been summoned."

Wally's Comment: Forbes isn't the only commentator to suggest this. The book that started it all, Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069 by Neil Howe and William Strauss predicted it.

From Business Week: Putting a Price on Social Connections
"Workers who have strong communication ties with their managers tend to bring in more money than those who steer clear of the boss, according to a new analysis of social networks in the workplace by IBM (IBM) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology."

Wally's Comment: This article reports on research that may suffer from the illusion of false concreteness, but it's still an insightful look at the value of social interaction of all kinds in the workplace.

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.